Face Lift

I've always been a front door/front porch decorator.

I have cutesy wooden signs for each holiday that I've made with vinyl letters...typical crafty blogger stuff.

Lately everyone in blogland has given their front door a makeover, and I just couldn't resist the peer pressure.

Here's my leap onto the bandwagon.

Before pictures:

I thought I'd taken a good before picture, but I can't seem to find on on my camera. As a substitution, here are my cute kiddies on the 4th of July.

Notice the "Welcome" vinyl on the door behind them, the garland, the sign to their right, the flowers to their left...

It was cute - but it was old. And I wanted new.

Here it is after I'd taped around the edges (not wide enough, btw) and removed the vinyl and the handles.

First I washed it down good with water (didn't use a power washer this time, though I did that just a month or so before) and then I used black spray paint to get inside the indentations in the decorative panels. This was my own invention - I didn't want to be jamming my brush into those crevices any more than necessary.

After that I just bushed/rolled on the paint. I went with black exterior semi-gloss from the Home Depot. I didn't use a primer or anything - the paint that was on the door was still in really good condition.

It took 2 coats.

I applied another Welcome vinyl (this time in cream) in the center of the door and put a stainless steel kick plate ($25 at Home Depot) on the bottom.

I also took the railing down and spraypainted it black.

Then I made this gorgeous wreath and hung it a la' Nester.

Here's the end result (sorry, no cute kiddies in the picture this time!)